1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a print system having an image read function, such as a copier or a printer with a scanner.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Applications No. Hei. 11-328902, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, a print system of a copier, etc., scans a print, a photo, etc., placed on an original bed by an image read section made up of CCD elements, etc., and converts the print, the photo, etc., into image data as digital data. The image data is sent, for example, to a laser beam print engine, etc., for printing.
On the other hand, the source print, etc., may be enlarged or reduced rather than printed intact as a copy. To enlarge or reduce the source in printing, the source image is optically enlarged or reduced and read or image processing of interpolation, thinning out, etc., is applied to the image data for generating enlarged or reduced print image data.
Further, as an application example of reduction print, if a plurality of prints are placed on an original bed and reduction print is executed, they can also be arranged collectively on one page.
By the way, to enlarge and print a source print, the source print cannot be enlarged exceeding the printable paper size with a print engine although it depends on the scaling factor. On the other hand, to reduce and print a plurality of source prints collectively on one page, the source prints need to be arranged on an original bed. That is, as many source prints as can be placed on the original bed can only be arranged collectively on one page.
If an automatic paper feeder, etc., is used, a plurality of source prints can be read in order and converted into image data. Thus, if a plurality of source prints cannot be placed on the original bed at a time, they may be able to be printed collectively on one page. In this case, however, the image data of the source prints must be retained and thus they may or may not be able to be printed collectively on one page depending on the installed memory capacity. Particularly, in recent years, color printing has become widely prevalent; the data amount of a color original is large. Therefore, it is difficult to reduce and print a large number of source prints collectively on one page; if the installed memory capacity is increased, costs are increased drastically.